Sprachbewusstheit – Sprachreflexion – Sprachkritik – Sprachpraxis – Sprachspiel: Didaktische Perspektiven auf die Auseinandersetzung von Kindern mit tradierten sprachlichen Formen

Abstract

Children enjoy playing with language, even when they are as young as four years of age. Their playful practice can be seen as dealing with linguistic rules and conventions critically. Therefore didactic language criticism should be aware of children’s motivation for language play and their experiences in this field. The article describes several forms of language play – spontaneous speech play, jokes and riddles – and relates them to language acquisition, language awareness and acquisition of written language. Finally, impacts on teaching language criticism at school are considered.